GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 2 March 2021 English Original: Arabic United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names 2021 session New York, 3 – 7 May 2021 Item 4 (a) of the provisional agenda * Reports: Governments on the situation in their countries and on the progress made in the standardization of geographical names Achievements of the National Committee on Geographical Names in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 2019-2020 Submitted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia** * GEGN.2/2021/1 ** Prepared by Abdullah Nasser Alwelaie, Vice-Chairman of The National Committee on Geographical Names in KSA GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 Achievements of the National Committee on Geographical Names in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for 2019-2020 By Abdullah Nasser Alwelaie Vice-Chairman of The National Committee on Geographical Names in KSA A) King Abdulaziz Foundation For Research and Archives (KAFRA): 1- Preparation and design of the book "Ad Dirʻiyyah in Historical Maps", which included the design of a template for maps, the design of the book cover and the design of the content of the book on publishing programs for printing. The work also included the preparation of the maps of Ad Dirʻiyyah gallery from its inclusion in the frame designed for the exhibition and the inclusion of the basic data of the map as follows: map title, author, date, publisher, publishing site, length, and width of the map- scale of drawing - the country and region covered by the map - the source. The number of maps worked on was about 145. The work included the improvement and redrawing of more than 17 ancient historical maps to be placed in the Book of Ad Dirʻiyyah Maps. 2- Preparation and design of the model of the project of a picture book of Western travelers, which includes the presentation of the historical picture, description of the image in Arabic, French, and English, reference number, type of books, name of the book in English and Arabic, name of the author, location of the picture in the origin of the book, type of image, date of description of place, name of place (Romanization), coordinates of place, state/region. The office work included the improvement of historical photographs and maps, as well as the introduction of 1,200 records of historical photographs and maps from travelers' books. 3- Georeferencing of the maps of the Saudi Port Authority, and the work included the work of improving and returning geographical and projection and layer indexes of port maps from the Saudi Port Authority, which contains maps of all ports of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whether on the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, as classified maps for several measures such as: (1:1000,000 750,000, 500,000, 250,000, 50,000, 10,000) and maps also included ports in the Gulf states such as Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and southern Iraq. 4- Regular maintenance of SaudiGeonames Explorer App, the project included the design of two mobile applications, one on Apple's IOS devices and the other on Android to facilitate App's access to a wide range of users through their smartphones or tablets. As well as designing an explorer's website that is compatible with all different computer systems and designed with the latest technologies in the creation of web pages. 5- The National Committee on Geographical Names in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continues to receive requests for road-sign names for the Ministry of Transport in various administrative regions and provinces in accordance with Arabic Romanization System 2017, and the Committee continued to receive inquiries from government agencies about the right name of places or modifying or changing some place names. 6- Romanization of geographical names of the Red Sea project. The National Commission on Geographical Names has corrected, reviewed, edited, and promoted the names of the islands to preserve the old name of the islands as much as possible, and the National Committee has made proposals to amend some of the disputed names at the request of the project's sponsors for tourism purposes. 7- Start directing and preparation of the Atlas of National Historical Atlas of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where it has formed a committee for geographical, technical, and historical matters of the project. 8- The design of a website for the Gazetteer of Geographical Places in the Red Sea, and the work included the issuance of an electronic version of the Gazetteer in 4 volumes, this site has been linked to the website of the King Abdulaziz Foundation (Ad Darah) and enables the users of the website to browse the pages of the Gazetteer directly on the international internet. 2 | P a g e GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 9- ompletion of the preparation of a map of the boundary of the Holy Mosque in MAKKAH AL MUKARRAMAH and the work included the re-directing of the map in accordance with the boundary exact points of the Holy areas. 10- Implementation of a map of the city of H̱ ajr AL YAMĀMAH and its environs and villages - the nucleus of the modern city of Riyadh, and another map of the Valley of AL ʻURḎ (H̱ ANĪFAH) and its small settlements, and the work also included the redesigning of the map in relation to the historical locations of the villages. 11- Preparing maps documenting historical sites in central Riyadh within the old wall of Riyadh, as part of the Riyadh Documentation Project. 12- Production of maps of the Book of hajj: The Road of AL BAH̱ RĪN and AL YAMĀMAH pilgrimage and its tributaries and branches, and the works included the production and output of a map of the route of pilgrimage from AL KUWAYT to MAKKAH AL MUKARRAMAH and back from it. 13- Implementation of an electronic editing of the Historical Atlas of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the atlas was redesigned. 14- A redesign of the AL AH̱ AMMĀʼ historical maps of AL MADĪNAH AL MUNAWWARAH, with a total of 4 maps, consisting of maps of (H̱ IMÁ AN NAQĪ‘, H̱ IMÁ AL RABDHAH, H̱ IMÁ ḎARĪYAH, H̱ IMÁ FAYD), which included the signing of new landmarks on the maps and the limits of the Himar in its maximum bread and limits during the reign of ‘UMAR IBN AL KHAṮṮĀB and under AL MALIK ʻABD AL ʻAZĪZ. 15- Start preparing a concept of an indexed national Gazetteer containing names in Latin letters in coordination with the relevant geographical names as a binding reference for all government agencies in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 16- Cooperation with the Department of Digital Media at The King Abdulaziz Foundation (Ad Darah) to make digital content and video identification about the National Committee on Geographical Names in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (NCGN) and its functions and its headquarters, where the video includes information about the National Committee based in The King Abdulaziz Foundation (Darah), which represents 19 members of the concerned authorities and beneficiaries of the geographical place names. The final goal is to consolidate and coordinate detailed maps of cities, villages, centers and archaeological sites and tourist sites. 17- Set up and create Maps for Saudi Wikipedia. B) General Authority For Survey and Geospatial Information (GASGI): GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES COLLECTION AND DOCUMENTAION Geographical Names Department in GASGI: It is one of the departments of the General Directorate for the Map Production in the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information, and its mission is to collect, document and classify geographical names in the Kingdom of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia according to the relevant standards with the accuracy in location, spelling and transliteration. Geographical Names database comprises GeoNames from all the sources for entire area of the Kingdom which are an important reference for researchers and those interested in maps of various kinds both from government and private sectors. Major steps involved in Collecting and Documenting Geonames Field Survey: 1. Roman Transliteration of Geographical Names 2. Verification of Geonames from local authority 3. Update of Geographical Names Database with collected Geonames. Romanization: GASGI has developed an electronic program for the Romanization system (https://api.gcs.gov.sa ), to facilitate the transfer of geographical names from Arabic characters to Latin letters to use in the GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 authority’s Maps and it also available to other government agencies and public. Romanization of geographical names is carried out according to the system agreed upon by the Arab Division of Geographical Names Experts approved by the United Nations. Tools developed by GASGI for Roman transliteration: 1. GASGI Webpage for Roman Transliteration. https://api.gcs.gov.sa/ (Public access) 2. If Arabic Names are in an Excel 3. Roman Transliteration for GIS file 4 | P a g e GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 Arabic Names and Roman Names in a GASGI Map of 25k scale Examples for Arabic names and respective Roman Names in attribute table: GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 GASGI Geographical Names Database (GNDB) GCS Geographical Names Database (GNDB) is a names database which is used to store, maintain and update Geographical names in Kingdom of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Other than GASGI, It also has GeoNames from various sources like MOPM, GDMS etc. Geonames in ArcMap View Names details in attribute of Geonames feature class in the GNDB includes: 1. Arabic Name 2. Roman Name 3. Feature Category. E.g. Hydrography, Relief, Cultural etc. 4. Feature Name. E.g. Wadi, Mountain, Lake etc. 5. Coordinates 6. Data Source 7. Administrative boundary info 8. Features extends such as polygon and Line 6 | P a g e GEGN.2/2021/CRP.100 9.